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Mark Barkan | |
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![]() Barkan in 2008 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Marcus Barkan |
Born | Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | July 4, 1934
Died | May 8, 2020 85) New York City, U.S. | (aged
Occupations | Songwriter, record producer |
Marcus Barkan [1] (July 4, 1934 – May 8, 2020) was an American songwriter and record producer. He was also a musical director for the television show The Banana Splits Adventure Hour , which aired between September 7, 1968, and September 5, 1970, lasting two seasons, on NBC.
Barkan was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and started his career as a writer in the Brill Building. [2] His first major success as a writer was with "The Writing on the Wall", a 1961 US top 5 hit for Adam Wade which he co-wrote with Sandy Baron and George Paxton (credited as George Eddy). [3] He had further success with "I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter" (co-written with Hank Hunter), which was a hit for Connie Francis in 1963; Lesley Gore's Top 5 hit "She's a Fool" (co-written with Ben Raleigh); [3] the often-covered "Pretty Flamingo", which was a hit single for Manfred Mann in 1966; [4] and "The Tra La La Song (One Banana, Two Banana)" from The Banana Splits (co-written with Ritchie Adams). [5] [6]
In 1966, Barkan was responsible for producing the album Psychedelic Moods , by The Deep, which has been credited as the first album to have the word psychedelic in the title. [7] Barkan also wrote songs for many other artists, and was involved in "cult" bands as well. He and Ritchie Adams co-wrote songs for The Archies, The Monkees, and for many other recording artists in the late 1960s. The team of Barkan and Adams was instrumental on the Banana Splits project, and they also wrote and produced all the songs for Toomorrow , a 1970 sci-fi musical, produced by Don Kirshner, which starred Olivia Newton-John as a band member. [8]
In later life, he collaborated with Albert Bouchard, formerly of Blue Öyster Cult, on the 2018 album Fidelis ad Mortem. [8]
Barkan died at his home in New York City on May 8, 2020, at age 85. [8]
The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk scene. Their music went through several phases, from an initially austere art rock sound to later touching on new wave and hard rock.
The Sisters of Mercy are an English rock band formed in Leeds in 1980. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new records in protest against their record company, WEA. Currently, the band are a touring outfit only.
Bryan Guy Adams is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million records and singles worldwide, placing him on the list of best-selling music artists. Adams was the most played artist on Canadian radio in the 2010s and has had 25 top-15 singles in Canada and a many in the US, UK, and Australia.
The Banana Splits is an American television variety show produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and featuring the Banana Splits, a fictional rock band composed of four costumed animal characters in red marching band hats with yellow plumes. The costumed hosts of the show are Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper, and Snorky.
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"Pretty Flamingo" is a song written by Mark Barkan, which became a hit in 1966 when Manfred Mann's recording of it was released as a single. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 5 May 1966. Manfred Mann's recording was a minor hit in the United States where it spent eight weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 29 during the week of August 6, 1966. It was also successful in Ireland, and was number one there for four weeks, keeping the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" at number two.
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